


dreamless

by skai_heda



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst and Humor, Blood and Violence, F/M, Introspection, Light Angst, Not Canon Compliant, Not Canon Compliant - The Legend of Korra, Not Compliant with Avatar Comics, Past Aang/Katara (Avatar), Past Mai/Zuko (Avatar), Possession, Post-Canon, Spirit World (Avatar), Spiritbending & Spiritbenders (Avatar), as in avatar legend, kind of a different take on the spirit world
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:28:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25761376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skai_heda/pseuds/skai_heda
Summary: after an incident involving a gateway to the spirit world, the gaang finds themselves with a traitor in their midst, and trapped in the spirit world with nothing to face but their fears and their emotions.on top of all of that, zuko has to deal with a new development in his feelings for katara.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar), The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 138





	dreamless

Zuko wishes desperately that he could've seen them under better circumstances. He's missed their brightly colored clothes, their eyes so relievingly different from the typical Fire Nation Amber. 

_Blue eyes,_ he thinks traitorously, though that thought doesn't exactly remind him of Sokka.

He tries to push past that. He tries to think about how much he's missed their optimism, their love for each other and, by some strange surprise, him. He misses how fun and carefree their friends managed to be even in the middle of a war—a reminder that they'd all been just kids back then, even him. 

But they aren't carefree and fun now, Zuko notices, as he strides into the room to greet his friends. Suki is in the Kyoshi Warrior attire, sitting with her fingers laced, her eyebrows knit together. Toph, for once, is utterly silent, leaning against the wall. She and Aang have grown much over the last four years—Zuko thinks that Aang might even get taller than Zuko himself. And then there's Sokka and Katara, having a hushed conversation. They fall silent at the sight of the Fire Lord, Katara's eyes sweeping over him like a tidal wave. 

"Hello," Zuko says, and resists the urge to say _Zuko here._ He's never been good at timing with humor. "I'm glad you're here."

"So are we," Aang says, striding forward to hug him. Zuko's not much of a hugger, but with Aang, it's impossible to resist, or even dislike. It's a nice gesture, but the somber mood of the room remains. "So... what's the plan, Hotman?"

He exhales softly, sitting down and putting his chin in his hands. Not the move of a Fire Lord, but he never really has to be a Fire Lord with them. It's one of the million reasons that he loves them so dearly. "That's—kind of why you're here. I'm sorry, guys. I'm not sure what to do."

"We've dealt with stuff like this before," Toph proclaims, her voice clear and lovely, no longer a child's voice. "It's all the same problem over and over again, right? Kill Zuko, kill Aang, kill all of us. Right?"

"Technically," Suki mutters. "But the problem is just—slightly different. And worse." She looks at Zuko. "Someone's opened a gateway to the Spirit World, according to Aang. The, ah, dark side or something."

"Aang is the bridge between the human world and the spirit world," Zuko protests, crossing his arms. "Can't he just—pacify dark spirits or something?"

"It's not that simple, Zuko," Aang sighs. "Besides, there's something going on with the spirit world right now. I can't—I can't go in it. Not unless it's through the gateway."

"Do we know who opened it?" Zuko asks, crossing his arms.

"No," Katara answers, and his heart drops at the sound of her voice. "That would be the first step, I guess. Many people are claiming to opened spiritual gateways in Ba Sing Se lately." Her eyes narrow. "Too many to be a coincidence."

Toph tilts her head up. "You're suggesting this is the work of some organization?"

"Sort of. Or maybe a lot of people in on a very detailed coverup. We could be walking into something big with no preparation."

"Seems a bit like an overestimation of the people's abilities, doesn't it?" Toph counters.

"Don't _underestimate_ them," Sokka sighs. "You saw how big that 'no war in Ba Sing Se' operation was. I mean, I'm not saying this whole spirit world thing is that big, but we have some idea of what can be pulled off."

"Yes, but the Earth King has basic common sense now, doesn't he?" Suki asks. "Like, a little?"

Sokka, Katara, and Aang exchange a look before releasing three identical sighs. 

"That is—that's great," Zuko mumbles. "Maybe Uncle Iroh knows something."

"I do not," Iroh says from a corner of the room, causing Zuko to yelp. "How long have you been there?" he exclaims.

"For the Fire Lord, you are surprisingly oblivious to some things," Iroh says with an indulgent smile, glancing sideways at Katara before looking back to his nephew. 

Toph pinches the bridge of her nose. "It's going to be fine, okay? It's not going to be harder than defeating the _Fatherlord._ I mean, Fire Lord."

Zuko frowns. "I see what you did there, Toph. Too bad you don't. Because you're _blind."_

"Oh, that one wasn't even that good!" she protests, shaking her fist at him. 

"We're getting off-topic," Katara murmurs, but she looks almost like she's suppressing a smile. He's momentarily paralyzed by her presence, his entire consciousness locking onto her. He knows he should be thinking about all of them, thinking about every one of his friends, but it's like Katara's the only one who left, and the only one who came back. "I suggest we go to Ba Sing Se." Her voice snaps him out of his trance, and he realizes he's been staring. "But not as ourselves."

"What, are you suggesting we like, morph into other people or like an alternate identity?" Sokka asks. Toph rolls her eyes. Zuko wonders how she can breathe in the metal armor she's designed for herself. 

"Alternate identity, genius," Katara clarifies, tilting her head. 

"Gaang trip to Ba Sing Se! Nice," Aang says with a grin, bouncing on the heels of his feet like he's twelve years old again.

"It's not a vacation, Twinkle Toes," Toph mutters. 

"But it'll be nice," Aang counters. "I mean, we've all been seeing each other these last four years, but we haven't done something together since the war ended. Other than the dinners and stuff, but I mean like— _adventure_ stuff."

"You're forgetting one small detail," Zuko sighs. "I have a lot of responsibilities here, Aang."

"I hear Mai is exceptional at strategies and politics," Iroh says, pouring himself tea. 

"Yeah, but Mai _hates_ that," Zuko protests, thinking of how his best friend would react if he asked her to be the Fire Lord for a few days. "I couldn't ask her to do that."

"Not necessary," a low voice says from the doorway, and he turns his head to see the woman in question. 

"How long have you been there?" he says. "How come I'm not noticing _anything?"_ he adds mournfully.

"Not very long, actually," Mai says with a small smile. "Besides, I have Ty Lee to keep me company."

"Mai..." 

"I'm not saying I'll enjoy it," she mutters, walking over to him to put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "But I'll do it for you. You are my best friend, in case you've forgotten."

Zuko grins. "You're the best, Mai."

"Uh-huh." She traipses out, knives glinting at her hip.

"Is the carrying-a-knife-everywhere thing really necessary?" Sokka says.

 _"I_ think it's cool," Toph says. "So we have your Fire Lord job issue covered. You, on the other hand..."

"What? What's wrong with me?" he splutters.

"You're just easily recognizable, that's all," Aang says. "And so am I. Hmm. I can't exactly wait to grow my hair out again, can I?"

"I hate to say it, but Ba Sing Se is still relatively isolated from the other nations," Suki cuts in. "Your appearances won't be much of a problem, except maybe Aang's, because of the tattoos. We should just go for small changes, if we really wanna sell it."

Toph reaches up to undo her hair, and it explodes into a spiky mess around her face. She shakes her head, letting it fall around her shoulders in loose, slightly tangled waves. "Like this? Oh, this doesn't feel good. I kind of hate it." Aang's eyes widen at the sight, and he hastily looks away. "Hey, Aang, are you okay? You might go into cardiac arrest."

"I am fine," Aang mutters. "I just saw a baby spider-bat behind Zuko."

Toph pauses. "He's not lying."

Zuko nearly breaks his neck trying to get away from the wall, only to fall flat on his back and dissolve into the sound of his friends laughing and the relief that Toph had actually lied and there was no spider-bat at all.

* * *

"Got it," Mai says, setting down the last file. "How do you do this all the time?"

"I kind of like it," Zuko admits. It's late at night, and the others have retired to their rooms in the palace. Right after the coronation, Zuko had them pick their rooms, the ones they would have every time they visited, even let them decorate them the way they liked. He said it was for their personal preference, but in reality, it was a way for them to have a piece of his friends in a place that had, initially, been unhapy for him in his childhood. "It's alright, this whole Fire Lord thing. Turns out I'm better at leading than I thought."

"Yeah," Mai says, glancing out towards the balcony. They had kissed there four years ago before his coronation, and he'd made the promise to never break up with her again. He actually didn't break that promise—it was Mai who ended things, after they had both come to the realization that they had mistaken their friendly affection for each other as feelings of romantic love. Oh, he loved Mai, alright. But the two of them were so unfamiliar to the concept that they'd gotten everything mixed up.

He's glad things are the way they are, that he and Mai are still friends. He used to wonder whether Mai was actually secretly bitter and heartbroken over the whole thing, but ever since she and Ty Lee started getting closer, he's stopped having that suspicion.

"Doesn't it get lonely?" she asks.

"Sometimes," he says, There's no point in lying to her. "But it would be worse if I had no one at all. At least I have people that I can see, visits to look forward to."

"You still worry," she counters. "There's something on your mind all the time."

He puts his chin in his hands. "It's nothing."

Mai sighs, leaning back in her chair. "You're not like him, you know."

"What?"

"You still think about your dad. You still wonder whether you're going to turn out like him or not. You won't, Zuko. You are nothing like Ozai."

He blinks. "You're right, but it's not entirely that. I'm also worried that _others_ want me to be more like him. More assertive and—colonizing. Or something."

"He wasn't assertive, he was a piece of shit," Mai protests. "No offense, but that man had like, no admirable qualities. He was greedy and cruel. And you—you're absolutely nothing like that." She stands. "Look. You should get some rest. After all you've told me, it seems like you'll need it. And maybe consider cutting your hair. For the whole alternate identity thing."

"Thanks, Mai."

She flicks him hard on his temple before leaving.

* * *

Zuko doesn't sleep, surprise surprise. He wanders through the palace the way he always does when he's feeling restless, except he's not the only one who had the idea.

Katara lies on her back by a tree in one of the nicer courtyards, bending water from the nearby fountain into shapes. 

He stops, wondering whether he should go and talk to her. Katara is a good friend of his, but there's something that's changed, or perhaps it is something that's been there all along.

He swallows before wandering over to her. "Hi," he says softly, so that he doesn't startle her. 

"Hey," Katara responds, still looking up at the sky. The moon shines almost as bright as the sun tonight. "Can't sleep?"

"Obviously not."

She sits up. "I'm worried about this whole thing. It doesn't really seem like a big deal, but the Spirit World is pretty powerful. I don't know if we can get Aang his connection to the Spirit World back and—and keep him alive."

Zuko swallows. "We'll be there for him. You know we will."

"What if it's not enough?"

He sits down next to her. "You guys are the most powerful benders and fighters of your nations and elements."

"So are you," she reminds him. He'd like to disagree, but that's another matter. 

"Either way, he's got a lot of power on his side. And he has something to fight for—also us. As long as he has us, it'll be okay."

"I don't remember you being this emotional over us," Katara says with a small laugh. "Or wise. Although maybe you get that from Uncle Iroh."

"Why do all of you call him Uncle Iroh?" Zuko sighs, lying flat on his back now. "He's only _my_ uncle."

"He's our uncle now, Zuko."

He makes a derisive noise, turning his head away. "Mai says I should cut my own hair so that I don't look like a Fire Lord." He looks back at Katara. "The thing is, I've never cut my hair in my life. If I try, I'll probably end up looking like—"

_(lightning liquefying his veins and it hurts, and he needs to know that Katara will be okay and that Katara's alive and if he saved her and if she—)_

"—like Azula," he finishes, somehow keeping his voice even. If Katara notices his nanosecond of hesitation, she doesn't say anything about it. 

"I can cut it for you," she says after a few minutes. "I'll cut your hair."

 _You'd do that for me?_ he wants to ask, but he already knows, he's always known. Katara would do that for him, would do it for any one of them.

They go to her room, and he immediately likes it. There's not much, but he knows that it's hers. He can see it in the subtle touches of blue around the room, the sea breeze that lingers here. Or maybe that's his imagination. 

"Sit," she says once they're in the bathroom, holding a pair of wickedly sharp scissors as she stands behind the stool he sits on. 

"You know what I realized?" he says. "This could actually a very well thought out assassination plot that I just walked into."

"If you move your head I might actually kill you," Katara says, undoing the top knot and setting his golden headpiece on the counter. "On accident, of course."

"That makes me feel so relieved about what you're about to do."

Her fingers comb through his hair, and his lips part. He realizes that she can see his face, since they're both facing the mirror. "You okay?" she asks.

"Yeah," he says tersely.

"God, your hair is soft," Katara says with a laugh as she combs her fingers through it. "Do you spend half the day taking care of it or something?"

Zuko holds back a smile, instead opting to watch Katara in the mirror. Her eyes are narrowed in concentration. "How long do you want it?"

He has to consider for a moment. "Kind of like how I had it in the war. A little shorter."

"I can do that."

He thought having Katara close to him would probably stop his heart, but he can't help but admit to himself that he's really starting to relax now. Not just around her, but for the first time in a while. He really did feel happy in his position as the Fire Lord, or at least content—but it was exhausting at times, to hold the fate of so many lives in his hands.

All is silent except for the sound of their breathing and the gentle snip of the scissors. Locks of black hair hit his shoulders, some sliding down to the floor. He doesn't mourn the loss of his hair, though he does miss the feeling of Katara's fingers in it after she pulls away to admire her work. "Good?"

"It's great," he says, shaking his head to get the hair off of his shoulders. Katara uses some water to bend away the few hairs still strewn all over his robes, then bends it out of his clothes. "Now you look the way I remember you."

Zuko sighs. "I can't believe it's been four years since the war ended. I've been the _Fire Lord_ for four years." He tilts his head, letting his hair fall over his ruined eye. "Sometimes when I'm you guys it feels like nothing's changed."

For a moment, she looks as though she wants to say something, but she holds it back. Sensing that the conversation has ended, Zuko thanks her for the haircut before collapsing into bed and into dreamless sleep.

* * *

**I N T E R L U D E I**

* * *

The sea churns below them, reaching out with it's fingers of silver and blue. The young waterbender watches from her spot on the sky bison's saddle, deep in thought and hands laced together in her lap, the perfect picture of cold and solemn silence. The Avatar and the Water Tribe warrior are at the front, talking animatedly. 

The Fire Lord attempts to fix the hair of the young Beifong, adding a few small braids to the locks that now reach the middle of her back. He does surprisingly well—after all, he had a younger sister once. The Kyoshi warrior makes conversation with both of them, oblivious to the whirlpool brewing in the sea below.

The waterbender leans over the edge, her hair swept up by the wind. There is something within her that is not of this world, something within her that calls for violence, that calls for her to make the sea explode and swallow the world whole.

Her fingers tighten their grip around each other, and the Katara who is not Katara waits in silence.

* * *

"It's nicer than I remember," Aang says, putting his hands on his hips.

"It's the exact same way I remember it," Toph mutters, shaking hair out of her face. Sokka and Aang glance sideways at her before looking back at the city. Zuko looks to Katara, who surveys the city in silence. She's gotten quiet as she's grown up, apparently. 

"It does look the same. Aang and Sokka are just being dramatic," Suki says. Her face is devoid of the Kyoshi Warrior makeup, and her hair, now to her shoulder blades, blows in the light wind. "Still kinda creepy."

"Uncle Iroh says we'll be able to stay in the apartment above the Jasmine Dragon," Zuko tells them. "Let's get our stuff there, and then start looking around for clues. Toph, don't even think about saying it."

Toph closes her mouth with a smirk.

"Didn't really think you were the leader type," Sokka grins, reaching up to poke Zuko in the cheek. "I always thought you were a vaguely underqualified Fire Lord."

Zuko puts his foot forward and down onto Sokka's boot. "I am actually a very good leader, thank you very much."

"Really? You're the most impulsive one in this group," Toph snickers, walking straight into him on purpose.

"Am _not!"_ he replies indignantly. "I'm not impulsive anymore!"

"Hey, I found something," Aang says softly, walking up to them with something in his hand. It's a crumpled piece of paper, and Zuko takes it, unfolding it carefully.

"'Blazing Star Agenda,'" Sokka reads out loud over his shoulder. Zuko's blood turns to ice, as he realizes that he's heard that before. Sure enough, a slightly altered sigil of the Fire Nation at the bottom of the paper."

"Is it some sort of flyer?" Katara asks softly, coming to stand by his other shoulder. There's something different about her, he's starting to notice. Even a mature, eighteen-year-old Katara wouldn't be this subdued. 

"It's a riddle, I think," Sokka declares, prying it out of Zuko's hands. "The answer is a location, maybe."

"Could be a meeting place," Suki says. "What's Blazing Star?"

"Blazing Star is an elite branch of Fire Nation society," Zuko says softly, crossing his arms. "I think my father was a part of it. Either way, everyone I knew to be a part of that was just like Ozai." He looks grimly at Aang. "They could be behind the issue with the Spirit World. They've been 'disbanded,' but I know they still exist, and I know they still hold a grudge over the way the war ended. I've spent some time at the beginning of my reign as Fire Lord trying to split up the society, but as long as their beliefs exist, they'll never be gone." He looks up. "Most of them were harmless, but there were some who, at least, would stop at nothing to achieve their beliefs. If there's anyone who could be behind this... there's a damn good chance it's them."

"Zuko and Aang are their top targets then," Katara says, her eyes sparkling in a moment of familiarity. He just can't seem to understand why she's swimming through periods of excitement, split evenly into two versions of herself.

He wonders if he's the only one who's noticed. 

_It can't be. They've all known her longer than I have._ It was only a difference of a few months, which was supposed to be insignificant in the face of the four years they've all been friends, but it's always felt like longer. Maybe because he actively tried to hunt them down for those few months. He winces to himself in a moment of self-deprecation, taking the paper back from Sokka. "Let's get to the apartment. It's not a good idea to figure out the riddle out here in the open."

"Where did you even get that, Aang?" Toph asks in disbelief behind Zuko as he guides them to the shop.

"I found it in one of the dustbins nearby," Aang replies, before sighing. "It seemed too easy to find something like it. It's almost like..."

He trails off, adjusting his hood. "Like what?" Suki pushes, narrowing her eyes.

"Like someone knew we were going to be here. Like they wanted us to find this."

Zuko catches Katara glance sideways at Aang, an odd expression crossing over her face. He assumes it's just her trying to figure out what that could mean. 

But the expression leaves him uneasy nonetheless. Not because of any jealousy he might have over her looking at Aang (not that he'd be jealous in any other situation), but because there is something so ominous about the way Katara's been acting that he finds himself completely thrown off her presence.

Katara couldn't be the one to have—no, she couldn't have. Although Katara and Aang are no longer a thing, haven't been for a couple of years, he knows that she loves him. She wouldn't _ever_ be part of any plot to hurt him.

Although, Zuko was also a target of this whole operation. Maybe she could be trying to get rid of him? No, also not possible. That still turned Aang into collateral damage, an automatic no for her—and despite his initial doubts, he doesn't think Katara would ever hurt him now, not voluntarily.

Katara's one of his best friends. All of them are. He would be able to find out the truth, right? He knows her.

He looks back at her, and suddenly he's not quite sure.

* * *

"Here, let me help with that," Katara says, pulling a dish towards wih a tendril of water. Zuko glances at her, surprised, as she washes the dishes they used for dinner with delicate swoops of her hand. _Moments of familiarity,_ he thinks again. Her hands gliding through his hair, her eyes scanning the riddle. Ribbons of water dancing around her fingers. 

"Hey, Katara," he says, absentmindedly scrubbing a dish. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

He glances sideways at you. "Is everything okay? You've just... you've been acting differently lately. Like, maybe something bad has happened."

Confusion flickers in her eyes, darkened by the dim yellow light of the kitchen. "No—nothing's happened."

"You're really quiet," Zuko says lamely. "I mean—I just—you're different than the way you used to be."

She pries the dish he's been scrubbing for the past five minutes out of his hands. "Everyone changes over time, Zuko. I would think you know that best. It's just—we're not the same people we were in the war. None of us, except Aang and Toph, are still even kids."

"Maybe some changes are just too big to be realistic," Zuko says softly.

Katara looks back at the dishes. "We wouldn't have done the same things, made the same choices now as we did when we were younger. Aang and I, for example, we wouldn't have deluded ourselves into thinking we had our whole lives thought out at the ages of twelve and fourteen. And you wouldn't take that lightning for me. I don't even know if you wanted to back then—"

"Katara," he interrupts. They're now facing each other, silver moonlight blending into the hazy golden glow of the kitchen on their faces. "You're wrong, you know. I wanted to—I wanted to make sure you lived. Getting electrocuted isn't exactly pleasant, but I don't have any problem doing that for—for any of you." He tilts his head down. "I would take lightning for you again, too. I'd take it for you at any given point of time for the rest of my life."

It sounds alarmingly like a confession, although of what, he's not sure. Or maybe he's just afraid of what it could mean.

"You'd take lightning for fun," she counters, though her voice is quiet, the weight of the moment not lost on her. 

He laughs then, still a slightly unfamiliar thing to do. Her eyes seem to brighten at the sound, awkward as it sounds to his own ears.

There's nothing but silence now that he's stopped laughing. One of his hands is resting on the kitchen countertop, inches away from Katara's.

"I _got_ it!" someone yells irritably from the living room, and Katara turns away, walking to the others. Zuko follows, greeted by the sight of Aang standing behind Toph and holding her hair straight up. "Just _trust_ me, Toph," Aang says. "I have some experience."

"You don't even have hair!" Toph wails. "Oh, Zuko's here." She reaches up to elbow Aang in the gut before getting to her feet and handing a green ribbon to Zuko. "I can't take this torture anymore, Zuko, please just tie it into a ponytail or something."

"Oh, yeah," Sokka snickers. "Zuko is _very_ good at ponytails."

Zuko considers setting him on fire, but he figures that would probably ruin the mood. He sits down and Toph sits in front of him, finally silent as he ties her hair back with the ribbon. "So, the riddle. Let's read it."

Sokka clears his throat and brings out the paper. _"In the streets of diamond and gold, lies the tale the spirits behold/ maze of mirrors between glass walls, to which friend and foe must both fall/ the hidden world shining bright as day, the heart and glory of old Ba Sing Se."_

"That's not a riddle," Zuko says, grabbing the paper. "That's a song. I've heard Uncle Iroh singing it."

"Any idea what it's about?" Toph asks.

He falls silent, trying to think, trying to remember. Uncle Iroh had surely mentioned the meaning to him at some point...

Zuko sighs and shakes his head. "I'm sorry. I don't remember."

"Old Ba Sing Se," Sokka says quietly. "There was an underground city, right? That's old Ba Sing Se."

"Yeah, but it doesn't have streets of diamond and gold," Aang counters.

"Or a maze of mirrors and glass walls," Suki adds.

"Maybe it's not the streets of the actual old city," Toph says.

"Wait," Sokka says, his face lighting up, sharp intelligence gleaming in his eyes despite the way he excitedly taps Suki's shoulder. "We know it's underground because of the words 'old Ba Sing Se' and 'to which friend and foe must both fall.'"

"Why the second one?" Aang asks, putting his chin in his hands. 

"Everyone gets buried, right? Underground."

"It could also be an underground prison," Katara says softly, also seeming to understand, at least a little."

"And then 'the heart and glory of old Ba Sing Se.' What was their largest trade item?" Sokka asks, tilting his head like a teacher in school, waiting for the right answer."

"The crystals," Zuko answers, and he glances at Katara, remembering a soft palm on his face, the way he leaned into her touch despite everything between them. "Reflective crystals, precious metals... probably as fragile as glass. It's the crystal catacombs!"

"Yeah," Sokka grins, but it fades as he puts his chin on Suki's shoulder. "But that's not super helpful. I heard the place is huge."

"It is," Zuko and Katara say at the same time, before exchanging a look. 

_(I was the first one to trust you, remember? Back in Ba Sing Se.)_

Zuko wonders if she remembers being there with him. If she remembers her tears, his admission that the Fire Nation had taken his mother as well.

"It's a start," Suki says, looking determined. "And a good one. Ba Sing Se is massive—this narrows it down a lot."

"Good," Toph says, swinging her ponytail around, causing it to hit Zuko square in the face. "We leave tomorrow at dawn."

"Dawn?" Aang yawns. "That's excessive."

"You should be backing me on this, Twinkle Toes. You and I are the only ones here that aren't still old and withered."

"Eighteen, nineteen, and twenty don't classify as old and withered, Toph," Sokka protests.

"Take a look in the mirror and reconsider your definition of withered."

"Tomorrow after breakfast," Suki decides, stifling a yawn. "And _then_ we go. Deal?"

Toph rolls her eyes, but she nods. "Sure."

Zuko gets to his feet, rubbing his eyes. "I actually don't even know if all of you can fit in here, now that I think about it."

The wall of the living room facing the street opens up, and extra rock from god knows where forms a large extended room, a wall coming down square in the middle and creating two doorways."

"Toph!" Zuko wails indignantly. "I'm gonna get fined for building a house extension without express permission from the government!"

"You're the Fire Lord!"

"Not the Fire Lord of Ba Sing Se!"

"Toph will take it down tomorrow morning," Aang grins, summoning a gust of air to carry the two long sofas, placing one in each room. "And I'm going to bed," he declares, going into one room. "Goodnight."

With that, he creates a wall blocking his room off. Toph sighs before going into the other room, and Zuko resists the urge to smack his head. He at least assumed that Toph and Aang would share one room, Sokka and Suki would share the other, and Katara could just take his bedroom while he takes Uncle Iroh's.

Zuko shakes his head. For some reason, he hadn't really wanted anyone to be in Uncle Iroh's bedroom except Uncle Iroh, but looks like things never really went the way they were supposed to.

"Sokka, Suki, my bedroom's down that hallway, the one on the left," he tells them, already regretting his decision. "Try not to—um. Make a mess."

Sokka turns beet-red, while Suki tries and fails to hide a smirk. "Katara, you can go in Uncle Iroh's bedroom. I'll sleep here," Zuko finishes. Katara opens her mouth, but he waves a hand. "Come on. It's fine." He bends down to collect some of pillows lying around. "This should be good."

"You know, making the Fire Lord sleep on the floor of his own living room seems kind of illegal," Sokka says, and he does look a bit guilty. "Are you sure—"

"Mhm," Zuko nods. "Just go and let me sleep."

He waits for Katara to glance back as she goes, but she doesn't.

* * *

**I N T E R L U D E II**

* * *

Lying in bed, Katara thinks of Zuko. Well, she thinks about what he said. 

_(You've been acting differently lately. Like, maybe something bad has happened.)_

Katara's noticed it too in the last two weeks or so, pieces of herself missing or faded. Not memory, exactly—she doesn't have periods of time where she doesn't remember anything after. But it seems that her entire world seems to be cycling through two phases with no pattern whatsoever—bright and colorful, the way she always sees it, and then at other times dull and muted.

It should worry. There's something within her sometimes that feels almost intrusive, almost like something to worry. Thoughts that she feels aren't entirely her own, but then again, how stupid is that? 

Every time she tries to tell herself that something has gone terribly wrong, that something has happened to her, another voice pushes back, maybe her own, maybe not. Warning, maybe, but mostly assuring that everything is the way it's supposed to be, that she will—

Maybe Katara is having some issue with memory. She remembers the times when everything is grey, the color sucked out of everything, but whenever she wants to examine it closely, at least try and remember what she was thinking, there's nothing but a barrier. A wall with a flashing sign telling her to go back.

It should terrify her—all of it. The way she swims in and out of the state of being herself, the invasive thoughts that crawl into her head at times, and that _feeling;_ the feeling that her body is not her own and something lies within, lying dormant like some sleeping monster.

* * *

_I rise with the sun._

Zuko peers up at the sky as Toph and Aang start to create a tunnel at the secluded edge of the city, leading directly to the crystal catacombs. He hopes desperately that they'll make it out of this alive, and that he'll see the sun again.

He glances at Aang, who's speaking with Toph, looking serious. "—can't talk to them anymore," he's saying as Zuko walks over to join them. "I thought that I would at least have the other Avatars to help me, but... they've all been cut off."

"Do you think people can die in the Spirit World?" Toph asks softly.

"I sure hope we don't have to find out," Sokka says, examining his sword. He'd gotten it two years after the war, alternating between that and his boomerang, though even Zuko knew that Sokka didn't feel as comfortable with it as he did with the sword he'd had in the war. Suki is sitting on one of the raised benches with the sun shining directly behind her head, making her brown and auburn hair look like strands of fire. She glances at Zuko before hopping down to the ground, landing silently on her feet. "What if—the leftover councilors from your father's court are part of this?" she asks, crossing her arms. "Seems likely, doesn't it? And you remember that assassination attempt three years ago," Suki adds. Zuko nods gravely, sighing. It had been within the first few months after appointing Suki as one of his guards, and he'd been exceptionally lucky to have her and the other Kyoshi warriors. 

"I don't know what I'll do," he says finally. "Fire them, I suppose."

She rolls her eyes. "Zuko, come on. You're smarter than that. You're just afraid to admit what you really should do."

He rubs his temples. "I know. I've been the Fire Lord for so long, but sometimes I'm still just so scared of—of being anything like _him."_

Suki puts a reassuring hand on his shoulder. She doesn't say anything because she doesn't need to—they know each other well enough by now that some situations just don't need words anymore. 

"The path is cleared!" Toph yells. "Come on."

Suki hops down into the underground tunnel, and Sokka follows. Aang floats down, leaving Zuko, Katara, and Toph.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Toph asks. "Want me to build you a ramp, your Highness?"

Zuko sighs before leaping down, instinctively holding a hand out for Katara to take in case she has a bad landing. She jumps down, and though she lands nimbly, she takes his hand anyway, before letting go a minute later. 

"So we just follow the path?" he asks, producing a small fire in his hand to light their way.

"That's the idea, genius," Toph says, walking forward. "Go in the front. There's no point in having the light in the back."

"You can't even see the light, Toph," Aang says.

"I'm being _considerate,_ Aang."

Zuko makes his way to the front of the group, and Katara comes to walk next to him. It's times like these where he feels younger, still sixteen and still, somehow, unaware of everything around him, even in the middle of a war.

"I'm glad we left Appa aboveground, even though I miss him," Aang says thoughtfully. "At least we have Momo."

 _"WHAT?"_ Zuko exclaims. "You've had Momo this whole time and I haven't noticed?"

"Momo's recently become obsessed with hide and seek," Sokka says. For the past two and a half days, he's been under the impression that you were going to be looking for him."

In response, an angry chitter comes from Sokka's bag.

Rapidly extinguishing the fire in his hand, Zuko whirls around and lunges for Sokka, grabbing the bag and wrenching it open. Two large eyes peer at him from the depths. "Found you," he sighs. "And good that I did. Or else it was going to bother me forever."

Momo blinks slowly before seeming to sigh in defeat and leaping onto Zuko's shoulder. Zuko shrugs him off and lights a fire in his hand again, causing Momo to release an angry screech and leap onto Sokka's head.

"I thought Momo was Aang's," Zuko says after a while. 

"Don't be stupid. We _all_ know Momo always liked me best," Sokka says smugly.

* * *

"Stop," Zuko says, after about twenty to thirty minutes of walking. "We're here."

There's a turn coming up ahead, and he can see a faint glow from the cavern beyond.

"I can—it's like I can feel the Spirit World here," Aang says, lighting his own fire and walking forward. "But I can't reach it." He turns around. "There's something dangerous here."

"Of course there is," Suki sighs, walking forward. Slowly, everyone else approaches the cavern, and they all stop dead, mesmerized by the sight of the crystals. 

"What now?" Sokka asks. 

"There's something up ahead, I think," Zuko says, catching a glint of reddish-gold light reflecting off of one of the crystals way in the back. "I think it's fire." He walks quickly forward towards the light.

"Zuko, wait," Katara says after a minute, jogging over to him. "I don't think this is a good idea—"

 _"GUYS!"_ Sokka yells urgently, before the cavern collapses.

* * *

Zuko coughs out dust and scrambles to his feet, looking for Katara. No rocks had fallen on him, thankfully—he'd been standing under one of the ledges on the walls of the cavern. "Katara!" he calls, weaving around fallen rock. _"Katara!"_

"I'm fine," a voice says from under the rock, and Zuko runs towards it, trying to pull rocks away. "Wait, stop," she says from within the dome of rocks. "You've helped. Leave the rest to me."

He steps back and watches several boulders float away, carried by water. Katara drops them far away before bending the water back into the container at her belt. Satisfied that she's alright, Zuko tries to turn back to go to the others, but a solid wall of rock has fallen between them. 

"Toph!" Zuko yells at the wall. "Aang! Sokka! Suki! Can you hear me?"

There's no response.

"Aang and Toph can earthbend," Katara reminds him, and he turns around to see her pressing a hand to her face. "They'll get us out."

"What happened?" he asks, walking over to her. Impulsively, he grabs her hand and pries it away from her face, revealing a cut on her cheekbone. Nothing deep, but probably painful nonetheless. "You should heal yourself," he breathes.

"We should conserve the water," Katara murmurs. "It's not that big of a deal."

He lets go of her fingers and sets his own palm against her face, and he knows for sure now that she's remembering that moment, too, where she did the same for him. 

"Zuko," she says, with nothing attached, saying his name simply because she wants to.

If he was a braver person, he would kiss her, because he can't deny that he's given himself to her, piece by piece over every word and every look they've shared.

It looks as though she might get to that first, but between one second and the next, it's like a curtain falls over her eyes, making them dull and cold again. 

Zuko pulls away.

"The gateway's here," she says quietly, turning away. "To the Spirit World. Come on."

Swallowing, he follows her as she makes her way across the fallen rocks. Zuko keeps looking back at the wall, waiting for it to crumble and for the others to be on the other side, but no such thing happens. Katara guides him to the red-gold light he'd seen, and when they finally approach it, he's greeted by a shining golden disk of light, facing them.

"Katara, we can't go without the others," he murmurs. "We can't afford to get split u—"

Something slams into him, pushing his body towards the portal. A small boulder, carried by water. And standing with arms outstretched, Katara, her eyes like a sheet of ice, glowing in the spirit portal's light. 

It doesn't occur to him to fight back—not until he's pushed through the light, and the world fades into a blinding white.

* * *

Zuko sits up carefully, taking note of his surroundings. It's a beautiful place, rolling green fields bathed in silvery light. It's nighttime here—wherever he is.

There's a figure approaching him, wearing all white. He adjusts his feet, steadying himself. He really wishes he had his _dao_ with him. Instead, he tries to light a fire in the palm of his hand, but it doesn't quite work—he can feel the flame beneath his skin, but he can't actually produce it. The figure comes closer, and suddenly he's falling, pulled to the ground as if by an invisible force. Out of the corner of his eyesight, a shining white blade appears at his neck—almost identical to the one Sokka carried in the war, the famed space sword.

A beautiful face comes into view above him, with flowing hair the color of clouds. Her eyes are blue—shades lighter than Katara and Sokka's. Her face carries a tough of familiarity—he knows he's met someone that looks exactly like her before, in the real world.

He remembers something Sokka told him, a long time ago, on the war balloon.

_Princess Yue of the Northern Water Tribe._

"Princess Yue," he says, blinking. "I—"

She uses her free hand to move hair away from his face, before widening her eyes and pulling away. "You're Zuko." She rises to her feet and allows Zuko to do so as well, and he watches the sword fade into the white glow that hangs around her—a sword of solid moonlight. Her hair billows around her head despite the absence of wind. "Good that I recognized you. I've never been allowed to learn how to fight well when I was alive, but I've had time to train myself here." She tilts her head. "I know why you're here. I don't know why the others aren't with you."

"We didn't go through together," Zuko explains, rubbing his temples as he remembers Katara, attacking him with cold fury. "There's something very wrong here."

"I know," Yue says, looking for a moment as though she'd roll her eyes. "I live here."

"I thought you were the moon."

She reaches out to put her hands on his shoulders. "Sokka came to the gateway with you, didn't he?"

Quickly, Zuko explains what had happened in the catacombs, leaving out the part about Katara attacking him. Yue watches him speak as concern grows on her face, and she turns away after he's done, putting her hands to her face. "There may be something I can do." Yue glances back at him. "Old, dark spirits have woken. They will be searching for you—all of you. I can try and reunite you—get you all to go to the same place. I'm afraid I can't do more."

"That's more than enough, really," Zuko says. "I—thank you."

She nods, looking slightly awkward. He never would've imagined a spirit being awkward.

"I—I'm sorry about what we did to you," he says after a moment.

"The Fire Nation didn't kill me," she says bitterly, in the tone of someone who didn't believe in what they said.

"They caused you to make your sacrifice," he murmurs, looking down. "I'm sorry."

"You don't need to tell me you're sorry," she says quietly. "I now carry the spirit of the moon, and I've seen everything. I've heard everything from everyone else here, and I know you've redeemed yourself."

"That doesn't matter to you, does it?" Zuko sighs. "You're already stuck up here for the rest of eternity."

"I'm not happy with it, but I've come to terms with it," Yue tells him. Looking at her now, speaking with her, Zuko can understand why Sokka had liked—had loved—the princess. "I'll find the others, and I will tell them what I'm going to tell you. Understand?"

"Yes."

She steps forward and tells him where to go, and he nods.

"Good luck, Fire Lord Zuko," she murmurs, and she dissolves into the pale moonlight, leaving him alone in the night.

* * *

**I N T E R L U D E III**

* * *

When Sokka wakes, he's home.

At least, it looks like home. There's snow all around him—he's lying in it. He's dressed for the warm weather of Ba Sing Se, so he expects the snow against his bare arms to be cold—but it merely feels like a blanket.

"Suki?" he calls, sitting up. A spirit portal had appeared on the other side of the wall that had fallen between him and his sister, the wall that neither Aang nor Toph could bend for some reason. They'd all gone through, but not at the same time. He's starting to realize that was a horrible idea. _"Suki!"_

She's nowhere in sight. Sokka leaps to his feet, his heart pounding. What now?

"Sokka," someone says quietly behind him. "Sokka, look at me."

He freezes. He knows that voice. He hasn't heard it in years, but he knows it well. Sokka turns slowly to look at the owner of the voice.

Yue's hands are clasped, and she's biting her lip. "Hi," she says, almost shyly. 

"Yue," he breathes, and it feels like someone's sucked all of the air out of his lungs, and like someone's lodged a stone into his throat. His heart is beating even faster now, and he feels that phantom touch of guilt, even after all these years. "Yue, I—"

"If you're going to apologize, don't," she commands, stepping forward, taking his hands. Though their skin tones are nearly the same, the glowing moonlight around her makes her fingers look as bright as snow in contrast to his darker ones. "I've never blamed you—any of you for what happened." She looks up, her eyes shining. "I sent your sword to you. During the war."

He huffs out a sad laugh. "The space sword." He looks down at their intertwined hands. "I always knew it was you. I never told anyone else that, but I always knew that sword came from you." Tears rise to his eyes, hot and unexpected. "I lost it."

"I know," she murmurs. "I know you did. It's okay."

"It was a good sword," Sokka tells her. "It was the best."

She withdraws her hands, and part of the glow around her seems to solidify until she too is holding a sword—a perfect copy of the space sword, except the blade is shockingly white, like it was made from light itself.

"Yue," he says in disbelief, as she hands it to him. 

"You won't lose this one," she promises. "It will always return to your hand, just as it did to mine."

Sokka widens his eyes. "This was your sword? I can't—"

"Oh, calm down, Sokka. I'll make another one," she promises, laughing slightly. "I hope you didn't miss me too much."

He swallows. "That's the thing, Yue. After a while I—I didn't miss you anymore." He closes his eyes, fighting tears. "There was Suki. And I love her. I've loved her for years."

"Sokka, we didn't get much time together," Yue sighs. "I wouldn't have wanted you to be torn apart over me, not when you only had weeks with me. I want you to be happy. I always will." Her smile is beautiful. "I like Suki. You two are good for each other."

He releases a choked sob. "I used to feel so guilty sometimes, guilty that I didn't miss you as much as I thought I should." Sokka glances up, taking a deep breath. "But you're right."

"Of course I am," she confirms with a smile. Her expression turns somber. "I'm going to try and help you, alright? I'm going to get you to the others. But you need to listen to me, alright?"

He nods, and Yue leans close and tells him where to go.

* * *

Now that Zuko really thinks about it, nobody really thought this through. And now he has to wander through the Spirit World, something that should have been impossible in the first place.

While he follows the faint path of moonlight Yue created for him, he tries to bend. He doesn't think it should be possible, but the fire is just so close to coming out of his fingertips that he knows he has to keep trying.

"I'm not sure it'll work," a voice says an hour into his walk, and he whirls around. A beautiful young woman stands nearby, nearly five inches taller than him with freckles dusted across her nose. "Not even the Avatar can bend in the Spirit World."

He frowns. "How do you know?" Zuko asks, because apparently he's forgotten that he has to be on the lookout for evil spirits. But there's something about this woman that just seems trustworthy, something that, strangely, reminds him a bit of Aang.

She sighs. "I mean to say that very few people are able to. Sometimes even the Avatar is unable to pull it off."

Zuko narrows his eyes, turning away and ignoring her. He can't afford to get distracted by random spirits along the way.

But even so, long after she's out of his sight, he has the feeling she's no ordinary spirit.

* * *

Zuko sinks to his knees, sighing. He can't feel fatigue, hunger, or thirst, at least not to the extent that he would in the real world. But he feels like he's been in the Spirit World for hours—maybe he has.

And he still hasn't found the others. What if they're all lost forever in this place, never to find each other?

 _Katara,_ he thinks. He has to find her. He has to know what's happened to her.

The path of moonlight ripples, flickering and coming close to disappearing. His skin prickles—he knows something is close.

Someone.

He whirls around, fire rising to the tips of his fingers again. The intruder watches him carefully, arms crossed.

"Katara," he says carefully. "I'm glad I found you."

"I'm sorry, Zuko," she sighs. With a belated shock, he realizes that ribbons of water are curling around her fingers like vines. _Not even the Avatar can bend in the Spirit World._ "You know that I won't enjoy this."

A wall of water slams into him and he coughs, crawling away. He's not going to fight Katara. He can't ever do anything to try and hurt her.

But Zuko's not a fool—he's never been. He knows if he doesn't fight back, Katara—this _wrong_ version of Katara, will kill him. She's always been strong. And he's always known how powerful she is.

If he wanted to fight back, for real, he couldn't. He still can't bend, and he sure as hell can't figure out why Katara _can._

Zuko shakes his head, droplets of water falling from his hair. He feels something pull all of the extra water off and away from him, and Katara freezes it into a million shards of ice, all sailing towards him. He dives to the ground and rolls, narrowly avoiding the first wave, but she just redirects them back at him.

_I'm going to die._

A piece of ice shoots across his face, slicing the skin below his scar open. Katara's moving too fast for him to protect himself from all the shards of ice, and they cut him up even more, leaving blood running down his face in thin streams.

"Stop," he says, knowing full well she doesn't hear him and she doesn't care. "Katara, _don't!"_

"I can't," she replies, her voice as calm as ever. "Not until I do what I need to do."

"You don't need to do this!" Zuko protests. "Whatever's happened to you—you can fight it. I _know_ you're stronger than this, Katara. And I know you don't want to hurt me or Aang or anyone else."

Katara sighs softly, and the blood starts to drift away from his face in delicate swirls. The cuts start to hurt, and he gasps—she's pulling the blood out of his body.

And she's starting to control the blood in him, too, forcing him to his knees. She'll kill him, right here, right now, and he would have gone without a fight.

_Weak._

There's someone walking to him now, bathed in light. Yue? No. She's wearing the clothes of a Kyoshi warrior. Suki, his brain says, but no, it can't be. The woman's hair is too long, her eyes bright. There's no makeup or paint on her face, and as she walks closer, he can see the freckles across her nose. Katara doesn't seem to see her at all.

Avatar Kyoshi reaches out, her fingers outstretched towards Zuko. And something in him makes his hand rise, and reach out to grab Kyoshi's arm.

Everything goes white for a moment, a minute of pure nothing and yet everything at the same time, like fire consuming his entire body.

 _Fight,_ someone says in the back of his head. _Fight, Fire Lord._

He opens his eyes, facing Katara, and everything explodes out of him at once—a column of fire erupting in front of him, and something else, something unfamiliar and cold— _water._

Katara twists her hand and a large icicle forms in midair before shooting towards him like a rocket. He raises his own hands, and—a wall of ice meets it, shattering it into a million pieces.

Strong arms tug him down towards the earth, and his consciousness is knocked away, leaving him drifting in the dark.

* * *

**I N T E R L U D E IV**

* * *

Toph can feel the soft grass under her feet, but she can't feel anything else except the gentle tug in her gut forcing her in the right direction. It's like being up in the air, on Appa, with nothing to hold on to, no solid weight of the world firmly below her toes. The Spirit World is weird, and she hates it.

She feels weak, and Toph Beifong's never been weak.

The moon princess told her to follow the moonlight, and Toph listened. She couldn't see the moonlight, but Princess Yue had done something to make her feel the 'pull of the moon' or whatever. But Toph's feeling too sick now, has gone too long without being on solid ground.

She falls to her knees, clutching uselessly at the grass blades, heaving. She's glad that none of her friends are around to see her lose control like this, to be reduced to what she was before she became a true earthbender—a scared little girl, all alone in the crushing darkness.

_Get up, Toph. You're stronger than this. You always have been._

"Toph. Please."

"I can't," she says quietly, words she'd never said in a situation like this, words she never wanted to say. "I can't get up."

She hears a soft, feminine sigh. "Take my hand, Toph."

Toph raises her hand, reaching blindly. Her fingers close around someone's palm, and she pulls herself up. "Who are you?" she asks.

Sleepiness shoots through her entire body, pulling her down towards the floor.

"Yangchen," the woman says, and for a moment before everything fades, Toph feels the earth again. "My name is Yangchen."

* * *

**I N T E R L U D E V**

* * *

"Rise, Aang."

"He's too powerful," Aang breathes. "I can't do it. Not even as the Avatar."

Roku frowns slightly at the mention of the unnamed spirit. "Aang—"

"I'm alone," he chokes out. "I always have been. Once again, the responsibility is all on me and I—I never asked for this. You know. You know I never wanted to be the Avatar."

"Listen to me, Aang," Roku says sharply. "You know what has happened to Katara. Correct?"

Slowly, Aang looks up and nods. "He's controlling her from his home."

"And you know the only way to free Katara is to kill the spirit."

Aang puts his face in hands. "I can't do it alone. I can't even go into the Avatar state! I have no backup!"

"You do, Aang," Roku assures him. "The others—Kyoshi, Yangchen—they will be there for you. They have found a way."

The young monk lowers his hands.

"You are not alone," Avatar Roku tells him. "You never have been."

He puts his hands to Aang's forehead and Aang closes his eyes.

When he opens them, they are ablaze with a white glow.

* * *

**I N T E R L U D E VI**

* * *

Zuko watches from the side. He watches himself die, hands reaching for Katara in the end, always for her.

Except, Katara doesn't let him die. She disarms Azula quickly, and she runs to him, cradling him close to her body like he is everything to her, and god, for a moment, Zuko almost believes that he is.

"Stay," she says gently. He doesn't remember hearing that. He's not even sure that actually happened.

She heals him—she brings him back to life, as they have all been doing ever since he left the palace, since he betrayed his father for the last time. But it is Katara who makes him breathe again, in more ways than one.

He says her name when he wakes, and he thanks her. This, Zuko remembers, as he stands a few feet away from the two figures. Katara's hand is cradling his head, fingers buried in the dark locks. She must think he's just thanking her for healing him, but no, it's so much more than that—it always has been.

* * *

Zuko's palms hit the ground, hard, and he chokes out a few ragged breaths. He's somewhere different now, though the path of moonlight remains.

"What did you do?" he asks no one in particular, and to his surprise, someone answers.

"There are many different planes of existence in the Spirit World," Avatar Kyoshi answers, her low and sweet voice startling him. "I just helped you get from one to another before the waterbender killed you."

He steadies himself and looks up. "That's not what I was talking about."

Kyoshi frowns at him. "I helped you, Prince Zuko."

He barely registers her use of his old title. "Katara wouldn't—"

"I know you're not a fool," she interrupts, drawing herself up to her full height. "That is _not_ Katara. That is someone under the influence of... of something that is not to be taken lightly."

"She's possessed, isn't she?"

Kyoshi sits down, legs crossed and hair swaying in a gentle breeze. "Her mind has been taken by the oldest and darkest entity to exist in this place. There used to be a time before everything, a time of only darkness and chaos. Empty hands waiting to hold a world. Where there was everything and also nothing, and from that came a life that thrived in this dark state of nature."

"Does he have a name?"

"Oh, no. Not even the spirits have named him, for labeling him would make their fear of him too real. He is viciously powerful, Zuko. He can never be defeated."

Zuko puts his face in his hands. "Then what are we supposed to do? This is the first spirit, apparently. How can _we_ possibly beat it?"

"Didn't you understand, Zuko?" Kyoshi sighs, a touch of impatience in her voice. "There is no beating it. Not forever, anyway. But you _do_ have to send him back to where he belongs, a place beyond the Spirit World, the darkness that first existed before everything came to exist. Every few millenia or so, he gathers enough strength to pull himself into the bulk of the Spirit World, where he has enough power to shred the boundaries between here and the mortal land. And if he were to succeed—he would destroy everything. Restore the universe to what it had once been."

"Empty hands waiting to hold a world," Zuko says quietly.

"And the cycle repeats," Kyoshi murmurs. "It's poetic, almost. But I never really liked poetry."

"So we have to send him back," Zuko concludes. "Banish him well enough that he won't be trying anything for a long, long time. But I still don't understand—why are you here? Why can I see you? I'm not the Avatar."

"His presence has already begun to affect Aang," Kyoshi states grimly. "As the Spirit World slowly falls to his control, his ties to us fade and weaken. And should this continue, we could die. Even here, as a Spirit." She tilts her head. "There are many reasons why this happened. I'm afraid I had to use you to keep myself, though the real reason is because one Avatar alone cannot muster enough power to defeat him."

"Why? Hasn't he been banished before, presumably by another Avatar?" Zuko asks, feeling sick.

"This time is different," Kyoshi sighs. "Someone has called him here. And he is always more powerful when summoned, rather than just forced to use his own slowly building power to bring himself to where he is now. Clearly, they were not aware of how bad it could be. They must have assumed it was simply a way of killing you and Aang."

He swallows.

"Do you understand, Zuko?" she asks him. "Why you can see me? Why I know reside in your head?"

"He can't be defeated by one Avatar," Zuko says quietly. "But now there are—more." He looks up. "It's not possible."

"It is."

"It's _not!_ And even if it was, I can't master three other elements by the time we have to—"

Kyoshi reaches forward and puts one hand on his forehead, and his eyes close of their own accord. He breathes heavily, warmth flooding his body. 

She removes her hand. Zuko opens his eyes, his head spinning again. "What—"

"You'll know when you need to," she tells him. "When you need to, you will find that you can bend every other element with ease."

Zuko swallows and lowers his head. "What about Katara? What happens to her?"

Kyoshi looks grim. "She'll—she won't be the same until the elder spirit is banished." She glances sideways. "Be on guard. Someone's here."

She disappears, and he whirls around, hands curling into fists. 

_What if it's Katara?_

"Zuko!"

Someone runs into him, strong arms latching onto his own body.

He inhales sharply. "Suki. Suki, hey. I'm here."

Suki steps back, hands still firmly on his shoulders. "I'm so glad I found you. Where's Katara?"

Ignoring the sting in his heart, he explains the whole situation to her, and even goes on to tell him about Kyoshi and the eldest spirit.

Suki swallows and backs away, pressing her palms into her eyes. "We can't do this."

"Yes, we can," he tells her. "Suki. Hey. You trust me, right? You trust us."

"Of course I do, Zuko, but—!"

"I know how you feel," he groans. "But we have no other option. If we don't do this—"

"Everything gets wiped out. Yeah, I got that," she sighs, putting her hands on her knees and bending forward. "The others. We have to find the others. We must be close, if you and I found each other."

Zuko glances sideways at the moon's path. "Yeah. Let's go."

* * *

**I N T E R L U D E VII**

* * *

Katara sinks to her knees. "I won't hurt them," she chants, over and over under her breath. "I won't—"

"You already have, Katara. Please don't be foolish."

She looks up. "They'll make you pay. My friends will come back for me. Always."

The spirit steps out of the darkness and puts a hand to Katara's forehead. "I'm counting on it," he says.

* * *

Suki puts a hand on Zuko's shoulder. "We're here. Look down."

He glances down, and sees five lines of moonlight converge into one glowing silver disk set into the ground. "The others should be coming soon."

"The others are already here," a voice says, and Zuko turns to face Aang and Sokka, with Toph coming up on her path. Aang reaches forward to hug Zuko, and he sighs slightly. 

"Where's Katara?" asks Sokka, holding onto Suki like she's a lifeline. "I thought she was with you, Zuko."

"Sokka," Suki murmurs softly. "There's something you should know."

She glances at Zuko then, a silent question in her eyes. _You want to tell them or should I?_

He shakes his head just slightly. He's not sure he can repeat the whole thing again. Sighing, Suki tells the others everything—Katara's possession, the eldest spirit, and Kyoshi.

"That makes sense!" Aang exclaims once she's done. "Avatar Roku _told_ me that I'd have the help of the other Avatars. So Kyoshi is helping me through Zuko—"

"And Yangchen," Toph cuts in, and explains her own story to them.

"So, it's the benders having all the fun as always," Sokka concludes, but there's no real heat behind it. "So you and Toph are—Avatars?"

"Yes," Toph says impatiently, and uses a gust of air to knock him over to prove her point. Aang watches with a frown, his grey eyes assessing, calculating. 

"I think I'll be able to find the spirit," Aang says after a moment. "I—"

A tremendous roar shakes the world, and everything goes dark.

* * *

His ears are ringing when he wakes.

"Hey, hey. Zuko. I'm here, okay? I'm here."

"Katara?"

"Yes," she sighs in relief, pulling Zuko closer to her. "I'm here. Look at me."

He opens his eyes to see two blue ones staring down at him. He reaches up and presses a hand to her face, fingers curling around locks of her hair. But his hands slacken once he remembers. "No, get—"

"Zuko, please, just listen to me," she implores. "I don't have much time and I need you to listen to me."

He hears yelling, and turns his head to see his friends, all of them, facing down some massive, dark form. Aang and Toph's eyes are glowing, as bright as Sokka's blade. Suki herself has somehow produced a pair of fans that seem to be part of a set with Sokka's sword.

"Zuko," Katara says again, and her eyes look as though a thin layer of frost has covered them. "Kiss me."

Would a man dying of thirst refuse water?

He tries to wrench his body to the side, but he can't move—Katara's hold on him is too strong. "I have to—I have to help my friends."

Katara's hands tighten on his arms. "Kiss me before you go, Zuko. Please."

She's beautiful, Zuko thinks. But she isn't Katara.

Slowly, still trapped in her embrace, he extends an arm, and he imagines everything in the vicinity yielding to his control—the air and the earth, with water and fire racing through his veins.

 _You've always been strong,_ he hears Kyoshi say softly in his head. _Always._

Three identical explosions of power hit the dark spirit, the full power of three Avatars and six iron wills. Aang and Roku, Toph and Yangchen, Zuko and Kyoshi. Katara screams above him—whether in pain or anger, he doesn't know.

His body surrenders to the heat, the full power of the Avatar State. He pushes Katara away and goes to stand with the others, pushing the spirit back, every other thought driven away from his mind except his focus on the battle.

Zuko knows that someone will have to deliver the killing blow, the final hit to send the spirit back to where it came from. But neither he, Aang, nor Toph can afford to move, can afford to stop.

To his right, Sokka and Suki exchange a glance. A thousand 'I love you's' in an instant.

The two of them charge, mesmerizing in their glory, weapons of moonlight held up. Suki's fans and Sokka's sword would cut any lesser spirit into ribbons, and Zuko watches as Suki somehow manages to climb the dark mass, expertly avoiding the beams of energy that the others are keeping trained on the spirit.

It's a good fight, but it's one they might lose. Sokka is knocked to the ground, and the spirit uses a tendril of darkness to disarm Suki and send the fans flying, nearly beheading Toph and Zuko. But she clings on, despite the fear in her eyes. She's directly on top of the head of the thing, holding tight—and in one crucial moment, Sokka tosses his sword up in the sky.

Suki reaches out, nearly falling off of the spirit. For one horrible second, Zuko thinks she's going to miss the sword.

But her fingers close around the hilt and in an expert move, she twirls it and brings it down.

 _"NO!"_ Katara screams, and Zuko can sense her lunging towards him—so he lifts his other hand and stops her by freezing her midair, keeping his hand up to prevent her from controlling the ice. The spirit releases a tremendous roar, and the whole world explodes.

* * *

**I N T E R L U D E VIII**

* * *

Lying on the ground, Zuko opens his eyes. Kyoshi is kneeling in front of him, and she reaches out to rub his shoulder. 

"You did good, Fire Lord Zuko," she promises him. "You did good."

"You're—you're leaving me?" he asks quietly.

Kyoshi nods.

"Good," Zuko breathes.

She smiles at him before rising to her feet, joining another woman sitting next to Aang's body. Together, they put one hand on his head, and they disappear.

* * *

He runs to Katara as soon as he can stand, cradling her soaking body to his chest. She looks as though she could be asleep.

"Katara, hey," Zuko says shakily. "Hey, open your eyes. Please."

"It hurts," she tells him. Her chest is barely rising with every labored breath.

"I know," he murmurs, pressing his lips to her forehead. "But you can fight it. You can fight it off and we can go home."

"It would be easier to let go."

"You can't, Katara," he implores. "Look at me, please."

Aang and the others watch from a distance, eyes wide.

Katara opens her eyes, still dull, but they recognize him.

"I love you, Katara," he says. "I love you. _I love you._ Please, please just come back to me. Please—"

* * *

**I N T E R L U D E IX**

* * *

The fog lifts, and Katara breathes again. Color seeps back into life and into her bones, and she can feel everything. And she can see everything now, eyes of honey and gold gazing into hers, a dark red scar on pale skin.

"I love you," Zuko tells her.

"I love you, too," Katara answers, once she can speak. "Zuko, I love you."

_(thank you, Katara.)_

_(I think I'm the one who should be thanking you.)_

* * *

When they have fought their way out of the rubble and have made it out of the crystal caves, Aang embraces Toph and Sokka collapses into Suki's arms, smiling wanly when he sees that she is still clutching the moonlight sword.

And Zuko pulls Katara close, rests his forehead against hers. They have made their apologies, and they've made their assurances. And all that's left is them, after saving the world once again.

And since he is brave, he kisses her—a good, proper kiss, despite their friends being right there. And she kisses him back, fingers curled around his hair, and under the moonlight, they are alive.


End file.
